GLENDALE, Ariz. — An hour into his homecoming, Brock Purdy was flat on his back. He’d just taken a helmet-to-helmet hit from 232-pound linebacker Dennis Gardeck. The crowd, dominated by 49ers fans, tried to rally Purdy by chanting his name.
Was he knocked out? Did his surgically repaired elbow get wrecked? Was the 49ers’ season in peril?
Purdy would miss only three snaps because of a nerve stinger in his left shoulder, and he’d finish off that same drive with one of his four touchdown passes en route to a 45-29 victory over the Arizona Cardinals.
“I didn’t want to go in there acting like it was a movie scene,” Purdy said. “It was more about, ‘Alright, I’m back in here, let’s actually read the defense, and what are we trying to do.’ That’s what we’re trying to do: Put up points. I saw Christian (McCaffrey) in the end zone on a play and got it done.”
The 49ers (11-3) thus clinched their second straight NFC West title and their 23rd division crown in franchise history. They remain in position for the NFC’s No. 1 playoff seed with three regular-season games to go, their next being on Christmas next Monday night against the Baltimore Ravens at Levi’s Stadium.
“I know our guys were pumped about it,” 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said of repeating as division champs for the first time since 2012. “Now our biggest thing is making sure we’ve got two (playoffs) home games and trying to get a bye.”
When Purdy’s fourth touchdown pass found Deebo Samuel on a 17-yarder to the front left pylon, offensive linemen gave Purdy a group hug, and then right guard Jon Feliciano pretended to brush dirt off Purdy’s back from the second-quarter injury scare.
Purdy, who grew up some 45 miles away in Queen Creek, totaled 242 yards in adding to his NFL MVP candidacy. As “very honored” as he is to be considered for that award on what he calls “an MVP team,” Purdy has someone else in mind for it.
“Christian should be MVP. I really do believe that,” Purdy said. “He does everything for us: runs the ball well, can catch the ball. He does everything. So in my eyes, that’s an MVP.”
McCaffrey scored three touchdowns, ran for 115 yards, and had five catches for 72 yards. His scoring hat trick raised his season total to 20 touchdowns, including four against the Cardinals in a 35-16 home win Oct. 1. McCaffrey, who appeared to battle a cranky right knee Sunday, is three touchdowns shy of Jerry Rice’s single-season franchise record, set in 1997.
The 49ers never relinquished the lead once Charvarius Ward’s 66-yard pick-six put them ahead 14-7 in the first quarter. Another interception by Ward, with some six minutes left, helped seal the deal, as the 49ers sent in Sam Darnold to replace Purdy under much different circ*mstances than that second-quarter sequence.
The last-place Cardinals (3-11) proved pesky from the outset, jumping out to a 7-0 lead and running for more yards than any 49ers’ opponent since 2017. They continuously tested a 49ers defense that was missing interior linemen Javon Hargrave and Arik Armstead.
Arizona, however, often settled for field goals while the 49ers’ toy shop kept producing touchdowns.
Anything that unfolded at State Farm Stadium would have seemed so inconsequential had Purdy sustained a serious injury, similar to last season’s NFC Championship Game loss in Philadelphia, where he hurt his elbow.
This injury scare came when Purdy stepped up in the pocket to avoid two defenders, and just as he flipped a 9-yard completion to Kyle Juszczyk, Gardeck’s facemask collided with Purdy’s. Down went the star QB, and teammates rushed to check on him.
Said Deebo Samuel: “I was standing over him (saying), ‘Bro, what is wrong with you?’ He said, ‘I’ve got a stinger, I’ll be OK.’ ”
Purdy had never experienced that numbing sensation from a nerve issue, which he identified as a stinger thanks to his teammates’ descriptions of their previous experiences. After a couple of minutes on the grass, Purdy walked with the 49ers’ medical staff to a sideline medical tent for further evaluation, and Darnold took the next three snaps.
“I saw Darnold in there, which I’m very confident in him, because he prepares like a starter every week and he looked good in there for a little bit,” Nick Bosa said. “But I definitely was holding my breath.”
Gardeck’s roughing-the-passer penalty and Juszczyk’s catch moved the 49ers to the Cardinals’ 38-yard line for Darnold, who failed to connect on two passes to Kittle, but the latter pass drew an illegal contact penalty on the Cardinals. After a 2-yard run by McCaffrey to the 31, Purdy returned.
“He’s tough as hell, so once he said, ‘I’ll be good,’ that’s when everybody calmed down a little,” McCaffrey said.
Shanahan acknowledged he, too, was nervous, adding: “I assumed he got hit in the head. Once he got to the sideline, they told me it was a stinger. Sometimes those takes over a week, sometimes a couple of minutes.”
A 5-minute hiatus was all Purdy required, as he noted: “From there, I got better. Literally as time went on, it started going away. That’s why I was able to go back in there mid-drive.”
Once Purdy returned with 2:55 until halftime, the 49ers didn’t skip a beat. He threw a 6-yard completion to Samuel, then deftly tossed a third-and-2 pass to Kittle, who took a 1-handed catch to the 6-yard line. McCaffrey followed with a 1-yard run before his 5-yard scoring catch. Purdy pumped his right fist, strolled to the sideline to exchange high-fives, then took a seat on the bench to review video. It was business as usual, with a 21-13 lead only 1:14 before halftime.
And Purdy kept producing. He did, however, fall short of matching Joe Montana’s record of eight straight games with a 70-percent completion rate; Purdy was 16-of-25 (64%) with a 153.3 passer rating.
His third touchdown pass (41 yards) came as he escaped to his left and found a wide open McCaffrey, who backpedaled about 10 yards and fell down catching the ball at the 10-yard line. McCaffrey got up and scored his second touchdown for a 28-13 lead.
The Cardinals went over the 200-yard rushing mark Sunday when Emari Demercado scored on a 49-yard run, cutting the 49ers’ lead to 35-22, with 11:30 remaining. The 49ers hadn’t allowed so many rushing yards since the Cowboys racked up 265 in October 2017. Arizona finished with 234 yards on 30 carries — and on too many missed tackles, as linebacker Fred Warner stated.
The 49ers’ defense, however, also produced its first touchdown of the season, and it came on Ward’s first touchdown since he was playing pee wee football as the Wolves’ quarterback in McComb, Mississippi.
“I had a big smile on my face probably the whole first half after that touchdown,” said Ward, noting his fresh legs helped him Sunday, after leaving four snaps into the previous Sunday’s win over Seattle because of a groin injury.
With 6 1/2 minutes remaining, Ward again intercepted Kyler Murray for his first two-interception game at any level. He entered with a NFL-high 20 passes defended, but he had just two interceptions, so he changed up his practice routine.
“This week I caught some balls from Sam Darnold, a quarterback that throws the ball hard. It’s different when a quarterback is throwing the ball to you, rather than your coach. It’s a different spin on it,” Ward said. “I caught some balls from Sam Darnold and I’m probably going to do it every week now.”
Each team opened with a 75-yard touchdown drive, and the 49ers’ score came when Purdy hit a wide open Samuel for a 12-yard, game-tying catch. Samuel intentionally acted lazy as he went in motion before the snap, and no defender followed him on the play.
“The crazy thing is, when we practiced that, in my head, I was, ‘There’s no way I’m going to be this wide open.’ I came around and saw nobody,” Samuel said. “Kyle put that in, and normally when he puts stuff in, that works.”
It was the 49ers’ ninth touchdown on an opening possession this season, and it was Samuel’s seventh touchdown in four games.
The 49ers surrendered an opening-drive touchdown for a second straight game, with James Conner doing the honors in this one via a 2-yard run past Javon Kinlaw up the middle. It was no surprise the Cardinals attacked the interior. Kinlaw and Kevin Givens started in place of Armstead and Hargrave; backup Kalia Davis left in the first half with an ankle injury.
Bosa, who had a first-half sack, exited for a snap in the third quarter because of a foot issue but said afterward he was fine. The only other apparent injury came late to cornerback Deommodore Lenoir (ribs). That Purdy was not among the seriously injured made for a sigh of relief that reverberated throughout the Sonoran Desert.
“I’ve always dreamed of coming home to play in front of everybody, because I know how much they have my back and have supported me,” Purdy said. “I hope I was able to give them a good game. I appreciate all that they’ve done for me in my life.”
And the movie script remains a work in progress.
“If you just look at the whole grand scheme of it, right, being drafted last and all that, I guess people can start saying stuff about movies and stuff,” Purdy said. “But I’m just taking it one day at time. I’m playing football. I dreamed of playing in the NFL. I have a great team around me. That’s just where I’m at, trying to enjoy every day.”
